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I made some Christmas ornaments using cherry and some acorn using cherry with a walnut cap. I used BLO on the surfaces and it seems to be blotchy or inconsistent. I did not use a sanding sealer nor have I put a finish coat on. I guess I can shave off the BLO and start over. Where did I go wrong. They look terrible. The shavings in the trash can look better.
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Do you have a picture that you can share?
It could be that the oil has just accentuated the figure in the cherry. I would wet sand them with BLO and then let them dry thoroughly before adding a topcoat.
Oil is a penetrant not a surface finish, so it is deeper and harder to remove.
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I never understood the need for blo when all you need is a clear finish. I mostly use oil polly. if I don't want the yellowing on something like maple, I use lacquer. but I never saw a need to wast time and money with BLO.
just my opinion
Life is what you make of it, change your thinking, change your life!
Don's woodshop
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(11-21-2017, 09:14 AM)Woodshop Wrote: I never understood the need for blo when all you need is a clear finish. I mostly use oil polly. if I don't want the yellowing on something like maple, I use lacquer. but I never saw a need to wast time and money with BLO.
just my opinion
I dilute 50/50 and use a high friction application, then shellac or other after a couple days. As indicated, it will darken endgrain, face a bit less. Quarter, not much, at least on the slow-grow northern variety.
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
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Cherry is notorious for blotching with BLO. A light coat of dewaxed (blonde) shellac will mitigate the blotching. But, as the others have noted, I generally steer clear of straight BLO as a finish. I have in the past, created my own finish with 1/3 each of BLO, mineral spirits, and polyurethane. Like MM says, no matter what you use, end grain will darken more than face grain. That might be part of what you're seeing.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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Thanks. Sorry no pictures my computer and service is slower than the old original dialup so I don't even try.
I steel wooled them to death then put on 4 coats of shellac using the steel wool between each coat. They look so much better. I wanted a muted color before I rattle can lacquered them. Otherwise I'm not a big fan of BLO but I liked the idea of cutting it half and half.
